EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France | Frenchwoman Celine Boutier is in the mix early at The Amundi Evian Championship, carding a first-round, 5-under 66 in front of a hometown crowd to open her week in Evian-les-Bains. Starting her day on the back nine, Boutier birdied the par-4, 11th hole and then grabbed two more birdies on the par-3, 14th hole and the par-3, 16th hole, bogeying No. 17 to turn in 34. The 29-year-old made another birdie on the first hole and rattled off five consecutive pars before birdieing the par-5, 7th and par-5, 9th holes to post a 66. The score is Boutier's first round in the 60s since day two of The Chevron Championship in April and is her lowest first-round score of the 2023 season.
It's also her lowest round ever at Evian Resort Golf Club, besting her previous benchmark of 68 by two shots. Playing on home soil is never easy, so Boutier was proud of how she handled herself on Thursday and hopes to build off that momentum throughout the next 54 holes.
"It was a very solid day from start to finish. I feel like I definitely gave myself a bunch of birdie opportunities and I hit a lot of fairways, so I feel like I was really able to get off to a good start," said Boutier, who hit 10 of 13 fairways and 15 of 18 greens. "Finished the round also very solid with two birdies on the last two par 5s so very happy with my round.
"Honestly, you play mind games with yourself. You just tell yourself you're not at home. Try to think like a normal tournament and just approach the course like a regular course if that makes sense instead of being like over-cautious or like over-dramatic. Especially on this course, it's easy to do because there are so (many) danger zones everywhere. It's easy to get wrapped into that. This year I just decided to try to approach it as a regular event."
Boutier became the winningest French player in LPGA Tour history earlier this season after she captured her third career victory at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain. The Amundi Evian Championship marks her 14th start of the 2023 season. In addition to her win, she has recorded three other top-five finishes this year, a tie for fourth at the Honda LPGA Thailand, a fifth place at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play presented by MGM Rewards and a tie for third at last week's Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational alongside partner Yuka Saso. She also has three other top-15 finishes on her 2023 resume, most notably a tie for 14th that came at The Chevron Championship.
Coming to a pressure-packed week like this one, being in good form certainly helps settle the nerves that tend to arise when teeing it up on home soil. It also helps when you know what to expect from the venue you're playing, and considering that this week marks Boutier's seventh start in the Amundi Evian Championship, she's got plenty of local knowledge to lean on as she works to capitalize on her hot start and fire more low numbers over the next three days.
"It's pretty intimidating because there are slopes everywhere so I feel like it's a little bit more narrow than it looks," said Boutier, who has never finished inside the top 10 at this venue. "Then once you hit the fairway, the greens are so slopey, you have to place your ball really well on the greens. I feel like the more you play it, the more you feel comfortable with it. The fact that I played it a few times already makes me feel a little bit more confident this time around."
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